Relics of the Future
by gibbonsarenotmonkeys
Summary: Taking place after the second season of the animated series, it's the continued adventures of W.I.T.C.H.! When the girls receive a mission from the Oracle to reclaim certain powerful artifacts, they never dreamed they'd get a new enemy from the task!


"Oiy, Corny!" Irma's voice rang out over the food court, and Cornelia's head snapped up, a scowl already disfiguring her pretty features at the nickname. Reluctantly, she raised a hand to wave her friend over, and without further adue, the brunette made her way across the food court to plop down in the chair adjacent to Cornelia's.

"Where are the other girls?" She asked, looking about curiously for the rest of the W.I.T.C.H. five, to which Cornelia could only shrug.

"Will and Taranee are watching Matt & Nigel's band practise, and Hay Lin just called to say that her parents are making her help out at the restaurant." She explained, their 'group shopping trip' thing had kind of flopped with so many other plans, but she supposed they could always reschedule.

"Oh, the woes of being single and unemployed." Irma replied dramatically, draping her hand over her forehead like a woman forlorn.

Cornelia rolled her eyes, but found herself smiling at Irma's drama. "Um, hello? Not single, here. But you're right, shopping is such bitter torment. However will we manage?" She quirked an eyebrow at her, and Irma's entire demeanour switched entirely, to a mock-business tone.

"I figured we'd hit the clothing shop first, then move onto accessories, finish with shoes, and frozen yogurt for the grand finale! You in or out?"

"In, with one amendment. Add a music store in there somewhere, the latest Vance Michael Justin CD came out a few weeks ago and I need to pick one up." Cornelia flipped her hair back over her shoulder, while Irma mimed a heart attack.

"A few weeks ago?! And you, the VMJ-obsessed fangirl don't yet have it?" She looked at the ceiling in terror, as though it might fall on them at any moment. "The apocalypse is nigh! Run in terror! Hide your children! Aiee!!" Cornelia caught her by the collar and dragged her back into her seat as she tried to duck for cover under the table.

"Oh, shut it, people are starting to stare. I forgot to pre-order because I was distracted by all the power-hungry tyrants we had running around at the time, in case you forgot?" Her voice lowered to a hushed whisper as she reached the end of her sentence. "And I tried going after that was all done, but the stores were all sold out! There was a shipment today, though, so we're going to go and get one."

"Even if we have to beat up senior citizens to do it, right, Corny? Alright, let's go!" And before she could protest, Irma had her by the arm and was forcibly dragging her off in a random direction, for some major power-shopping.

-Several Hours Later-

"...was so cute! He actually got Matt to loan him his guitar and everything!" Cornelia related dreamily as the girls got in line for their frozen yogurt treat, laden down with numerous shopping bags.

"You mean it was actually good? I never had Caleb pegged for the minstral type." Irma replied thoughtfully, and Cornelia blushed, frowning.

"Well...I didn't say that..." Irma laughed out loud, and Cornelia gave her an indignant look. "Oh, shut up! It was sweet! And he's really good at playing the guitar...said it reminded him of a ratiug, whatever that is...it's just...well, singing's not really his thing..." Irma contained her chuckles this time, barely, and escaped just before her resolve broke to order her frozen ice cream. "Uh..let's see here...how's the strawberry?" She asked, looking up at the cute boy behind the counter, who smiled back at her, and gave a shrug.

"It's alright...personally, my favourite is the watermelon." He told her, and winked one pretty blue eye at her...it wasn't until he opened it again that she realized his other eye was green. She was momentarily dazzled when he smiled, but when she recovered, she found herself nodding dumbly.

"Y-yeah, that sounds good." She answered without any of her usual pizzazz, her cheeks warm as he set about to making her order, watching as his muscular arm reached into the freezer and his spiky black hair disappeared momentarily behind the mixer, before he re-appeared with her yogurt. She paid him, praying to any deity out there that she wasn't drooling, and stepped back in time to let Cornelia order hers, staring at him unabashedly now that she was out of the spotlight.

"Okay, wipe the drool, you're embarrassing me." Cornelia ordered, firmly taking Irma's arm(despite the many shopping bags that impeded this action), and steering her away from yummy-yogurt guy. "And tell me how much you love me."

Irma snorted. "Why would I do that?"

"For getting Dan's number." Cornelia teased, and Irma blinked at her, then comprehension dawned on her, and she looked back over her shoulder at the fading frozen yogurt stand, then back to her friend.

"Gimme!" She exclaimed, nearly jumping her in order to get the hot minimum-wager's number. Things like this just didn't happen every day!

"Hey, back off, you over-sized cocker spaniel! Irma! Aiiieeee!!" Cornelia shrieked as her friend actually did jump her, and they both fell in a mess of bags and clothes and yogurts into the mall fountain.

"You guys got banned from the mall?" Taranee quirked an eyebrow at the two girls who sat dejectedly before her, on either side of the dilapidated couch that resided in Guardian HQ, also known as the basement of the Silver Dragon.

"It was all her fault! She...attacked me!" Cornelia folded her arms over her chest with a huff, glaring at Irma out of the corner of her eye. "And she ruined my new shoes! Brand new, and now they're water-logged!" She plucked one dripping black pump from the sodden shopping bag at her feet, thrusting it under Irma's nose for inspection. Irma shoved it out of her face, and rolled her eyes.

"I wouldn't have if you would've just given me yummy-yogurt guy's number instead of taunting me with it!" She defended, using her water powers to pull the drippings off Cornelia's new shoes, and then out of the rest of her shopping; at least being a guardian had some perks. When Cornelia merely turned her nose up at her haughtily, Irma rolled her eyes and looked at Taranee. "What's up, anyways? The text you sent me said that there was 'guardian trouble'."

"Dunno yet...Will just told me that the Oracle wanted to see us...Hay Lin was out doing a delivery, so she went out to track her down." She explained, just as Hay Lin burst through the door, picking bits of chow mein out of her long hair.

"-and you just wouldn't believe the...OH! You're here!" The first bit was directed to Will, who was wiping soy sauce off her face disgustedly. "Eheh...sorry we took so long, had a bit of a, erm, clutz moment."

"More like an Eric Lyndon-obsessed-psycho moment. You were fine until you saw him walking down the street." Will rolled her eyes but smiled, waving to the others there.

"Ladies, once this business with the Oracle is all figured out, I say we have a major get-Hay Lin-her-boy toy meeting. Ice cream and major plotting included, of course." Irma piped up, and while she was still being ignored by Cornelia, the others laughed with delight.

"What is this business with the Oracle, Will? What's going on?" Cornelia asked, still looking miffed from earlier.

"I dunno, guess we'll find out when we get there." Will shrugged, and whipped out the Heart of Kandrakar without further delay. "Guardians, unite!" And one very flashy magical-girl transformation sequence (complete with implied nudity!) later, the four girls stood transformed in the middle of the basement. Now that they were thoroughly glamorous, Will held the Heart up once again, and within seconds, the girls were well and away, on their way to the Fortress at the heart of Infinity.

* * *

When they arrived at the Fortress, they were greeted by Halinor, who led them through the fortress to the Oracle's chamber. He was staring off into the puffy purple clouds as they entered, but turned to smile when he noticed he had company.

"Ah, Guardians. I'm glad you could come with so little notice."

"Not like he didn't already 'know' we would." Irma leaned towards Hay Lin to whisper in her ear, who covered up her giggle with a hand. The Oracle gave them a somewhat chastising, knowing look, and Irma hastily shut up, trying to look innocent.

"I asked you here because...well, there's a task that needs to be done, and I was hoping the five of you would be up to it." His eyes scanned the face of each girl briefly as he spoke. He took a deep breath before continuing. "You see, it has recently come to the attention of the council that certain...artifacts, have been popping up throughout the Infinite Realms. Artifacts we had thought long lost or even destroyed, have been resurfacing and causing...well, problems, to say the least."

"Problems? I'm going to guess that we're not talking about your run-of-the-mill museum artifacts, are we?" Will asked, folding her arms over her chest. And just when she thought she was finally going to get a break...

"No. These artifacts come from a world that was once known as Elysiade, a paradise of sorts. The Elysians were an advanced race, very prosperous, wise and peaceful. They used a combination of magic and technology that was far beyond that of any other world; several Elysians served on the Council of Kandrakar, as a matter of fact." He explained, but a dark expression fell over his face as he continued. "However, just prior to the creation of the Veil, all the Elysians who had been off world were suddenly called back, and would only explain that there was some sort of crisis that required their immediate attention. After we raised the veil, there was no way to contact them, and we merely hoped for the best." He sighed. "When you girls made it possible to lower the veil a year ago, we began to send emissaries to every world that had previously been working with the Council, including Elysiade. We found their world in ruins, burnt and destroyed, and even I hadn't seen so much as a glimpse of what might've happened. Every trace of their unique technology was gone, except for the artifacts that have been stirring up trouble recently." He finished, leaving the girls wondering.

"How did they combine technology and magic?" Taranee asked, ever the brain, interested in the technical side of things.

"That even I don't know...the Elysiades were extremely advanced, their technology beyond my personal ability to understand. Besides which, they were hesitant to share their knowledge, for fear that it would be misused." He explained, although it wasn't satisfactory to Taranee. She was itching to know a way to combine their power with technology...it was just so interesting!

"But, if they were as advanced as you say, what in the world could have destroyed them so completely?" Hay Lin asked this, terrified at the prospect of something that could destroy a race as powerful as the Oracle was making them out to be. The Oracle shook his head and shrugged.

"I have no idea. They were the most powerful world in the Infinite Dimensions...it doesn't make sense that were wiped out so completely. But I foresaw none of it, and seeing the past is not my forte." He patiently explained, and Hay Lin's eyes widened. This couldn't be a good thing.

"You said their artifacts are causing trouble...how? They're just...artifacts, right? Relics of a world long gone?" Cornelia asked hopefully, praying they were just some rocks people were fighting over.

"Yes, but they are relics of a world of technology far surpassing what we have. We believe that some of the artifacts are something the Elysians called lux leviter, what they used as power sources. They are small, hand-held devices. Their power is comparable to that of the heart of a world." A collective gasp could be heard as the girls drew in their breath, eyes widening in unison.

"And let me guess...this power is available to whoever holds the device, and doesn't need to be given freely like the hearts?" Irma was the first to recover, and she asked this question, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"That's both right and wrong. You see, the power is there, available, but the device is somewhat more complex than the heart. Unless one knows how to control the device, it will not function properly and will not do all that it might be capable of." The girls heaved a sigh at this. "The device is complex and difficult to figure out...but there will be those who will try, and those who will inevitably succeed. I don't need to tell you how dangerous that would be...particularly if they were able to figure out the unique combination of technology and magic that the Elysians used, and were to replicate it." And all their tension came flooding right back.

"So, basically, we need to go out and find these artifacts, or devices, or whatever you want to call them, before anyone manages to make them work?" Will summarized, and the Oracle nodded.

"So, where do we start?"

* * *


End file.
